Constant innovation is one of the key factors to remaining competitive and on-going research and development to design new and better products is integral to the industry. Your ability to design new products and modify existing designs, as well as improve time-to-market is critical to remaining competitive and profitable.

SYSPRO provides tools to streamline and track the introduction of new product designs and amendments to existing designs, along with relevant costings. SYSPRO's Engineering Change Control (ECC) enables you to apply strict control over your design-to-market processes by providing an integrated rules-based electronic workflow system with full version control, security and auditable history.

ECC gives you the tools to record and track new and modified product design and process changes, assess the impact of these changes on costs and associated data, and control the change routing and approval processes. ECC's queries, audit trail, history and archive facilities, give you quick on-line access to details of prior product versions, as well as the option of reverting to the production of a prior product version if required. In addition, the facility to attach copies of product design drawings to version and release levels provides access to visual details of revisions.

The Where-used Query facility enables you to identify all items affected by the raising of an Engineering Change order for all routes identified as being under Engineering Change Control. In addition, SYSPRO provides a 'replace component where-used' facility that enables the quick replacement of one item with a valid substitute item, thereby streamlining design changes.

SYSPRO's ECC, Bill of Materials, Work-in-Progress and Factory Documentation modules enable you to implement controls to ensure that your products are manufactured under consistent processes, to the correct designs and specifications. Single-level, multi-level, co and by-product bills are all catered for and flexible bill definitions accommodate complex component and sub-assembly requirements.

Chemical production plants are often highly automated with sophisticated measuring and testing systems designed to ensure quality of raw materials and work in progress, as well as high production yields. It is therefore desirable that any ERP production control and tracking system is able to integrate seamlessly with this process technology to exchange information and highlight issues at the relevant points. SYSPRO e.net solutions enables rapid development of secure and version-independent integration with such best-of-breed technology.

SYSPRO enables you to implement continuous improvement by helping you to identify problems and points of waste as they happen. Raw materials and manufactured products in the industry often vary in grade and quality, so tracking and control is essential to reduce waste, scrap and defects. SYSPRO enables you to specify approved manufacturers for raw material supplies and supplier performance can easily be tracked using queries and reports. In addition, SYSPRO facilitates the tracking of materials from purchase through production to customer, thereby maximizing quality control and providing you with the tools to manage product recalls, should they occur.

You can flag purchased items as requiring inspection so that during receipting, detailed records of counts, inspection, scrap, rejects and returns is recorded. Units in inspection are visible, but unavailable for use until accepted into stock. Similarly, SYSPRO's Work in Progress inspection system provides the tools for you to inspect manufactured product quality and, depending on the results, select to receipt, scrap or rework quantities.

SYSPRO's multi-level bill of materials functionality enables the definition of complex production recipes of up to 15 levels per route, and 10 routes per finished product.

Control over recipe changes is seamlessly handled by the Engineering Change Control module, while a where-used query and substitution facility enables quick and easy replacement of ingredients. The relationship validation function enables you to easily identify illogical relationships within your bills, while the structure validation function facilitates quick deletion of redundant or superseded components from bill of material structures.

The work center, and structures and routings facilities provide you with the means to define and maintain the elements required in a sequence of internal or subcontract manufacturing operations, as well as the structural relationships between parent and component parts.

For each bill level, you can define ingredient quantities such as quantity per, fixed quantities or wet weight percentages in relation to that specific level's parent item. Component and operation copy, insertion, and move facilities enable straightforward maintenance of new and existing bills. SYSPRO's multimedia functionality enables you to attach visual and textual material, such as videos, photographs, and certificates of conformance, to structures and operations, to aid production and quality assurance staff, while custom forms enable you to create additional user-defined fields.

Phantom bills are catered for to accommodate transient production items, and planning bill functionality aids option forecasting and planning. In addition, the configuration and manufacture of multiple items which are produced in a single process are catered for by SYSPRO's co- and by-product features.

SYSPRO provides various operation run time methods, as well as material and progressive scrap functionality. The capture of various lead time elements enables accurate calculations of manufacturing and cumulative lead times, which in turn aid efficient materials planning and production scheduling, as well as product costing. Information on tooling, operator skill levels, operation instructions and testing requirements can also be added to the operation and printed on SYSPRO's user-defined factory documentation.

The Work in Progress module enables seamless ingredient substitution where actual ingredients differ from planned. Furthermore, where intermediate or finished products differ from planned, the Work in Progress inspection functionality enables receipting of these products as alternate stock codes, or into alternate warehouses or bins.

SYSPRO's Inventory module enables the definition of multiple user-defined units of measure (UOM) for stocked items: Stocking UOM, Alternate UOM, Other UOM and Manufacturing UOM. These units of measure, along with their conversion factors, are used in various parts of the system to ensure accurate quantities for sales, purchasing and production.

For production purposes, SYSPRO's multi-level bill of materials functionality enables you to define the manufacturing recipes and methods for bulk, intermediary and pack items, allowing for up to 15 levels per route, and 10 routes per finished product. For each level in a multi-level bill, you can define ingredient quantities as quantity per, fixed quantity or wet weight percentage in relation to the UOM defined for that level's parent item and routing.

Whether a compliance-critical requirement, or an analysis tool for continuous improvement strategies, the traceability of products from material origins through manufacture to final destination, is a key system requirement in many industries.

SYSPRO facilitates the recording of traceability and quality data on materials and products from purchasing through inspection, manufacturing, manufacturing inspection, stocking and sales. The recording of expiry and shelf-life information is also facilitated and powerful queries enable both upward and downward searches by stock code, lot number and transaction type.

SYSPROls lot traceability and serial tracking functionality afford full visibility to the origins, build and customer destination of products and batches, thereby providing the means to rapidly trace and analyse the source of defects, should they occur. In addition, SYSPRO's Engineering Change Control module enables complete management and traceability of changes to product designs, while the Return Merchandise Authority provides consistent handling of product returns, as well as analysis data for improvement programs.

SYSPRO's integrated nature enables full backward and forward traceability, as well as comprehensive record-keeping to meet strict compliance requirements. Shelf-life management is facilitated through expiry dates and you can use SYSPRO's customization and custom form features to record other compliance-code dates, as well as to capture storage and transport compatibility codes.

SYSPRO's Quality Management System (QMS) enables the configuration and tracking of quality inspection points and metrics, to help ensure product quality and high production yields. Where a full QMS system is not required, the system can be configured to force sample, or full quantities of items through inspection processes, where detailed records of counts, inspection, rework, scrap, defects and returns can be recorded. Basic quality management is further enhanced through the ability to specify approved manufacturers for material supplies, as well as the ability to monitor supplier performance.

Tracking material involves knowing where it is at any point in time. In addition to SYSPRO's powerful traceability features, the system provides inventory management and visibility across multiple physical and virtual locations, as well as detailed tracking of purchase orders, sales orders, works orders, inter-warehouse transfers and available-to-promise quantities and dates.

SYSPRO's e.Net Solutions enable integration with scanning and RFID systems, to reduce processing time, as well as processing lags and errors, as material moves through the different processes.

SYSPRO provides the capability for the secure storage and fast retrieval of reliable integrated information to enable quick extraction when a product or batch recall is necessary. Adherence to stringent EU/ MHRA /FDA/TGA regulations in terms of traceability and recall procedures in industries, such as food, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, is facilitated through SYSPRO's lot traceability and serial tracking features. Multimedia capabilities enable the linking of relevant documentation and graphics to products and material, while custom forms facilitate the capture of essential traceability data relevant to your industry.

SYSPRO includes the facilities to trace items from raw material origins to customer, and vice versa, as well as the ability to identify the processor of every transaction or data change associated with the item, via Electronic Signatures. Full upward and downward searches and extraction of the integrated traceability data is provided by SYSPRO's powerful queries, and standard or user-defined reports.

Using SYSPRO's powerful traceability features, you can confidently identify the source of defects and quality issues, and thus limit recalls to defective product only. This prevents the need for total product recall and the associated costs and reputation impact.

Understanding the true cost per transaction of doing business means identifying contributing elements, direct and indirect, across the entire organization. These include not only the cost efficiency of operational activities and their interrelationships, but also the time spent on manual and redundant processes, reconciliations, paperwork and reporting, as well as the cost of lost opportunities from a lack of agility in responding to the global marketplace.

SYSPRO provides essential integrated visibility to your accounting, distribution and manufacturing operations, thereby enabling you to easily identify and track your cost elements and to target areas of waste for improvement programs. Additionally, it facilitates the automation of many processes that have traditionally been labour-intensive and time-consuming, such as operational-to-financial reconciliations and communicating with trading partners.

It offers Standard, Average, Last, FIFO and LIFO costing methods flagged at warehouse level, thereby providing accurate operations-focused inventory valuation, which in turn supplies accurate input for product pricing and profitability. Comprehensive multi-level costing of manufactured items is provided through the Bill of Material and Work in Progress modules, with the Product Configurator and Quotations and Estimating modules providing additional tools for assemble/make/engineer-to-order environments. Lot traceability, serial tracking and return merchandise functionality, along with SYSPRO's inspection systems, provide tracking of product defects, thereby helping you mitigate costly recalls.

SYSPRO's cost rollup and implosion functionality, along with user-friendly costing queries, provides fast access to reliable information on which to base pricing and profit margins. In addition, its extensive what-if costing features enables modelling and comparison of the cost effects of alternative inputs, such as raw materials, production routes, labor rates and subcontractor rates.

SYSPRO provides work-in-progress tracking, enabling evaluation of detailed actual-versus-expected costs, as well as targets for cost savings and continuous improvement programs. Used in conjunction with the Projects and Contracts module, it facilitates comprehensive project job costing. Visibility to production scheduling, along with what-if sequencing and scheduling tools, enhance manufacturing agility and competitiveness and help to prevent lost sales in unpredictable demand environments.

Excess inventories tie up valuable resources both in terms of cost and warehouse management. SYSPRO helps you optimize, manage and track your inventories through its multi-warehouse Inventory, Material Requirements Planning, Purchase Order and Work in Progress modules. In addition, the Purchase Order and Landed Cost Tracking systems provide a more accurate estimate of the full landed cost of imported goods, with the GRN matching and reconciliation features facilitating electronic reconciliation of supplier deliveries and charges.

Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Cash Book provide comprehensive balancing and reconciliation tools, as well as credit and cash flow management capability. Additionally, efficient administration of customer accruals, rebates and deductions is facilitated through the Trade Promotions Management module. Commitment accounting is provided through the Accounts Payable and Purchasing modules, while the Assets Register ensures accurate maintenance and depreciation costing, and asset profit and loss realization.

SYSPRO's General Ledger module provides powerful queries with drill-down from journal to transaction source, as well as at-a-glance financial and activity ratios. Processing time is greatly reduced through features, such as sub-ledger integration and reconciliation, journal copy, journal import, automatic weighted transfer of costs and G/L analysis.

Furthermore, SYSPRO's ease of ledger consolidation across complex businesses, along with its XML-based financial reporting features, enables prompt web-based deployment of financial reports to SYSPRO and non-SYSPRO users alike.

SYSPRO's flexible user-defined stationery formats, along with SYSPRO Reporting Services (SRS), precludes the need for pre-printed stationery for invoices, delivery notes, order acknowledgements, dispatch notes, purchase orders and statements. In addition, SRS provides considerable savings by reducing the need for paper-based audit trails and reporting. Its automatic scheduling tool precludes the need for resource-intensive supervision of periodic and month-end reporting. Furthermore, the archiving feature provides for the electronic storage of reports as run, thereby enabling users to view them on-line to discern actual print requirements.

SYSPRO's Office (SOI), fax and email integration saves time, postage and paper by enabling you to deliver transactional documents, such as purchase orders and statements, directly from their point of extraction via secure electronic means. Additionally, SOI facilitates direct queries of key operational data from the desktops of enterprise-wide users and trading partners, without the need for the desktop installation or licensing of SYSPRO.

The capability to extend electronic communication, so as to automate the acceptance and acknowledgement of orders on a 24/7 basis, is provided via SYSPRO's e.Net solutions, Document Flow Manager and Web Applications. Furthermore, SYSPRO's e.Net Solutions tools afford non-proprietary and version-independent integration to mobile devices and best-of-breed applications, such as shop floor control and quality monitoring systems.

The ROI of implementing SYSPRO is rapidly realized through full visibility to an integrated picture of your business operations and the resultant reduction in operational costs, processing time and human resources.